On 10/3/2015 12:31 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Don Y" wrote in message
...

Most glucometers that I've seen are CR2032 or 2025. The trend
seems to be to make the meters smaller and smaller. Also,
they seem to be treated as largely disposable -- vendors wanting
to "hook" you on a new meter to get you "addicted" to THEIR
(highly profitable) test strips.

[One of the non-profits for which I've done volunteer work recycles
medical... "discards" (not actually "waste", just things that are
no longer "wanted" by hospitals, doctors, patients, etc. So, you
see a LOT of glucometers!]

some good multimeters,

My portable DMM's (venerable Simpson and disposable "1 digit" HD units)
have 9V batteries. The better (5 and 6 digit) DMM's are line powered.

The blood meters are about like the printers. Almost give them away so you
have to buy the strips made just for them. Just as many razors are. Give
away the razor and charge a high price for the blades.

Exactly. "Toilet paper dispensers" :

Sort of hard to carry around a line powered DMM. Outside of lab work there
is seldom any need for more than the 4 1/2 digits of the Fluke meters that
run on 9 volt batteries.

I don't tend to do much design/debug work outside of my office so can
rely on almost everything being line powered. E.g., I pulled an LCD TV
into the living room last night to troubleshoot power supply (or
main board) issues. Need 120V in order to test the TV so I've got
that same 120V to power my DMM, DSO, etc.

I keep a HF DMM in the garage for the times when I suspect the battery in
one of the vehicles may be low or faltering. But, then, I'm really only
looking at how it *sags* when cranking and don't really care much about the
*actual* voltage that it is reporting. Probe battery terminals vs. battery
cables to see if a high resistance connection, etc.

Or, operating as a glorified continuity tester...